Parks Canada

Terra Nova National Park conducts weekly shorebird surveys during August and early September in order to monitor the abundance of Greater Yellowlegs and other shorebird species.

The park employs aerial surveys to map active beaver lodges/dams in Terra Nova. A selection of sites are ground-thruthed on foot or by canoe.

Terra Nova National Park monitors wetland plant richness at 30 randomly selected plots along a 80 meter transect.

This measure includes monitoring of browsing impacts of non-native mammals on populations of the balsam fir populations at 30 randomly selected plots. This measure records percent of browsing on particular firs, and collects multiple metrics, including species diversity, seral stage, etc.

Terra Nova National Park monitors intertidal invertebrate communities using a line transect and quadrat sampling method. The survey focusses on invertebrate community composition and diversity, and should detect presence of invasive marine species.

The park monitors angling stress in several ponds (lakes) in Terra Nova with Fyke nets. Angling stress is assesed against calculated values of fish biomass and fish condition (Fulton’s condition factor, K).

Terra Nova National Park monitors crab populations for the presence of the invasive European Green Crab; the abundance of native Rock Crab is also monitored. Park personnel uses baited traps for these surveys.

Terra Nova National Park employs fixed station pressure/temperature loggers to continuously monitor stream water temperatures over the entire summer at designated stream study sites.

This measure aims at monitoring forest plant community structure in Terra Nova National Park, including taxa richness, and presence of exotic species.

Terra Nova National Park monitors annual decay rate by measuring decomposition of tongue depressors buried within randomly selected Balsam Fir and Black Spruce plots.

The park maps the existing human footprint and footprint edge in Terra Nova.

The park assesses expected ranges for each land cover type: successional stages by stand type, area regenerating after natural disturbance (e.g., fire), mature forest, non-forest, wetlands, and waterbodies.

Terra Nova National Park uses fixed station stream gauges and pressure temperature loggers to monitor the following stream flow aspects: Richards-Baker index of flashiness, ratio of yearly precipitation to runoff, low flow volume, annual maxima/minima, and mean monthly flow.